Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2021

I’m a big fan of mentoring in business, and have been at different times on both the contributing and receiving end of the process. These days, I seem to often hear from entrepreneurs who are struggling to find a mentor, or complaining about their lack of effectiveness. When you meet with a mentor, you should lead the discussion.

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Mentor Coach Entrepreneur Press 151

SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

A large part of this conversation is what kinds of advisors startups should be looking for. A little while ago, I suggested that Every Web/Mobile Startup Should Have a Technical Advisor. We both felt that most startups are not taking a very systematic approach to defining with they need in terms of advisors. Connected Advisors?

CTO Coach 241

CTO Coach Startup CTO Hire Template 241

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? There was no money train.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2010

For the first 5 years of my career I was a “bottom up&# thinker and worker. I know it might sound a bit esoteric so let me explain: I started my career as a programmer. I started by doing billing systems. This is bottom-up planning. The wisest mentor I ever had was Ameet Shah , my partner on several projects.

Entrepreneur 372

Entrepreneur Startup Design Framework 372

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2013

I’m a big fan of mentoring in business, and have been at different times on both the contributing and receiving end of the process. These days, I seem to often hear from entrepreneurs who are struggling to find a mentor, or complaining about their lack of effectiveness. When you meet with a mentor, you should lead the discussion.

Mentor 102

Mentor Startup Coach Entrepreneur 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2013

Mentors tell you what you need to hear. When the message is the same from both, you don’t need the mentor anymore. In that sense, you should think of a mentor more like your advisor who has done all he can. Also don’t confuse a business mentor with a business coach. Friends tell you what you want to hear.

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Mentor Coach Startup Entrepreneur 101

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2013

They often come from the experience of being kicked, rejected, shunned, beat up. When you started you had the youthful (from a company perspective not age) energy, enthusiasm and naïveté that comes from actually thinking you can change the world. Except that building a successful startup is hard. ” Chips.

Startup 371

Startup Press Blogging Entrepreneur 371

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2019

If you are like most entrepreneurs I know, there just aren’t enough hours in a day to get all your own work done, as well as run the many one-hour meetings each team member seems to demand for decisions and mentoring. For one-on-one coaching from the startup founder, I call this approach five-minute mentoring.

Mentor 124

Mentor Technical Review Coach Slides 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2012

Mentors tell you what you need to hear. When the message is the same from both, you don’t need the mentor anymore. In that sense, you should think of a mentor more like your advisor who has done all he can. Also don’t confuse a business mentor with a business coach. Friends tell you what you want to hear.

Mentor 95

Mentor Coach Startup Ideas 95

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 2, 2011

Several people have been asking me to weigh in publicly on the “20 under 20″ initiative announced by Peter Thiel in which he will award up to $100,000 to 20 people under the age of 20 who agree immediately to pursue entrepreneurship (the implication of which is that they’d drop out of university to do so).

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Education Startup Incubator Class 322

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. ” So it’s now March 2014 – 5 years since I started investing. Disney Acquires Maker Studios f0r $500 million and with earn-out potentially up to $950 million. Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). I was telling him that it was much easier when I started because there were fewer deals, life was less public and somehow the world seemed to be spinning more slowly. I don’t.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2012

I’m a big fan of mentoring in business, and have been at different times on both the contributing and receiving end of the process. These days, I seem to often hear from entrepreneurs who are struggling to find a mentor, or complaining about their lack of effectiveness. When you meet with a mentor, you should lead the discussion.

Mentor 94

Mentor Coach Entrepreneur Press 94

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic. When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. As You Start to Mature.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

The Founder Institute (www.founderinstitute.com), an entrepreneurial training program that originally launched by Adeo Ressi in Silicon Valley, recently announced that it is setting up shop in Southern California, with branches both in San Diego and Los Angeles. What role do the mentors play? The mentors at the L.A. READ MORE>>.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

I believe you can be much more productive, as well as a more effective leader, if you approach most meetings as mentoring opportunities, and limit them to five minutes. With the five-minute mentoring approach, the mentee asks for your support in their decision, or asks for your insight on the considerations for them making a future decision.

Mentor 101

Mentor High Tech Coach Guide 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2011

Mentors tell you what you need to hear. When the message is the same from both, you don’t need the mentor anymore. In that sense, you should think of a mentor more like your advisor who has done all he can. Also don’t confuse a business mentor with a business coach. Friends tell you what you want to hear.

Mentor 98

Mentor Coach Ideas Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2019

Every entrepreneur and business person I know wishes he had more time for coaching all the members of his team. I often hear the excuse that coaching takes more time than simply diving in and doing the job for the other person, but is that really true? Exceptional communication is a prerequisite to coaching.

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Coach Course Mentor Examples 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2020

Entrepreneurs inherently understand that they have to be the initial leader of their startup, but often they don’t have the experience or the training to know where their leadership competencies lie, or how to build a leadership team. They are excellent mentors and coaches, but have a strong need to be admired and respected in return.

Startup 173

Startup Entertainment Entrepreneur Coach 173

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2019

Image via Pixabay I’ve always been a bit confused about the difference in a business context between a coach and a mentor. According to many pundits , a mentor shows you the right way based on experience, while a coach brings out the best in you, then let’s you find your own way.

Coach 87

Coach Mentor Examples Satisfaction 87

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 18, 2010

We will be selecting 10 startup companies to participate. Encourage the most successful LA tech entrepreneurs who had previously started companies to get involved as mentors, instructors or just informal advisors. When we started I told everybody we would run the organization as a startup itself. We connected.

Technical Review 259

Technical Review Venture Capital Southern California Tech Coast Angels 259

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2019

My biggest takeaway this year was truly understanding the strength and cohesion of the Los Angeles startup community. There was no monetary reward for those who participated (and Startup Boost does not take fees or equity from the companies that we help). What was the biggest lesson you learned this year?

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Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

So do you think the environment still tough for startups? I think that makes everyone happy, because even those who end up turned down appreciate knowing that quickly. With our new process, we're coming to a conclusion earlier than later, and giving a thumbs up or thumbs down. Mike Napoli: It's quality versus quantity.

Tech Coast Angels 231

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel Southern California 231

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2012

I believe you can be much more productive, as well as a more effective leader, if you approach most meetings as mentoring opportunities, and limit them to five minutes. With the five-minute mentoring approach, the mentee asks for your support in their decision, or asks for your insight on the considerations for them making a future decision.

Mentor 91

Mentor Product High Tech Coach 91

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2016

Why is it that only the most successful entrepreneurs , including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson, admit to having a mentor and actually use them? Starting a new business is tough, and the last thing you need is to suffer the same mistakes that have killed businesses like yours before you.

Mentor 95

Mentor Coach Metrics Entrepreneur 95

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2012

The dictionary definition of a mentor is “an experienced and trusted advisor,” or “leader, tutor or coach.” The big difference, of course, is that a mentor looks ahead to help you, while a critic looks backward to tell you what you did wrong. One of the key characteristics of a successful mentor relationship is trust.

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Mentor Entrepreneur Tips Coach 96

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Matt Blumberg, who runs one of Fred’s portfolio companies, Return Path, follows up with an additional three : Don’t be a bottleneck (make sure you aren’t holding up people’s work). If you fail, you need to start all over. As you start to succeed, you will hear from people like me…’armchair quarterbacks’.

Venture Capital 319

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2021

By definition, all of you entrepreneurs are leaders, by taking the initiative to start a new company. Yet I have learned over the years as a startup advisor that all business leaders are not the same. You generally don’t fix things by throwing them away and starting over. The time to get started is now.

Coach 162

Coach Startup Resource Competition 162

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2022

If you are like most entrepreneurs I know, there just aren’t enough hours in a day to get all your own work done, as well as run the many one-hour meetings each team member seems to demand for decisions and mentoring. For one-on-one coaching from the startup founder, I call this approach five-minute mentoring.

Mentor 154

Mentor Technical Review Coach Slides 154

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. In the startup world, this is often seen as a lack of focus.

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Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

socalTECH

AUGUST 10, 2012

Southern California has the one of the largest gathering of organized angel investment groups, and a huge crop of startup accelerators: there's only one problem, which is they don't naturally work together. The entrepreneurs in startups are trained to go fast and run lean. As a Pasadena Angel, I wanted to be shocked, but I wasnt.

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Angel Southern California Pasadena Angels Coach 174

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2010

The dictionary definition of a mentor is “an experienced and trusted advisor,” or “leader, tutor or coach.” The big difference, of course, is that a mentor looks ahead to help you, while a critic looks backward to tell you what you did wrong. One of the key characteristics of a successful mentor relationship is trust.

Mentor 91

Mentor Tips Coach Entrepreneur 91

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2010

The group--which was started by Richard Koffler and John Morris , two well known investors in Los Angeles--has been trying to help connect CEOs with interesting university and other technology projects. A lot of the time, all the startup and inventor can get their head around is the technology, much less trying to deal with business issues.

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Networking Research Startup USC 215

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2022

In my consulting work, when I ask team members in startups and small businesses how they know whether they are doing a good job, the typical response I get is “Nobody has yelled at me today,” or “No news is good news.” One mistake to avoid in all cases is to dress up praise as a comparison to others , such as “You were the best speaker today.”

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2019

Millennials have come a long way in business since I started writing about them nearly ten years ago. They started out as that spoiled generation of kids, born between about 1982 and 2004, who had everything, and could care less about business. Their success is now vital to our success.

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Tips Mentor Coach Guide 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2021

Once you are able to achieve some real “traction” with your business (paying customers, revenue stream), it may seem the time to relax a bit, but in fact this is the point where many founders start to flounder. All the skills and instincts you needed to get to this level can actually start working against you, and you can fail to scale.

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Entrepreneur Startup Coach Mentor 169

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 12, 2012

During the fall of 2011, Steve wrote a controversial post entitled, Why VCs Should Be Startup CEOs. Board skills (Startup coaching, mentoring, strategy, operational/growth). But none of them are substitutes for having started and run a company. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for.

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Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur SaaS 239